Healthcare. Is this he thin edge of the wedge?

Wealthy to me would be owning 2 or more properties outright no mortgages, and savings of over 500k, plus an income of 100+k.

Really wish someone could define wealthy. Is it savings of 50k, 100k, 500k 800k, 1 million, 2nd house owners, 3 or more properties etc. Or pensioners not in receipt of pension credit, people earning over 50k a year, or over 100k a year etc
What do others think?

Alexander05

Neither Scotland or Wales pay for prescriptions. Surely if the did it would help the nhs. Poor England has to🙄

No, See previous posts. It would help the NHS in England if they stopped paying for prescriptions.

GrandtanteJ I take the view that excellent health care and education should be available to everyone. It needs funding but is entirely possible. I didn’t want my children in private schools. I dislike elitism

Neither Scotland or Wales pay for prescriptions. Surely if the did it would help the nhs. Poor England has to🙄

I should think those who are wealthy will already be going private voluntarily, or will have some kind of insurance.
So, between the lines, this will be for people who cannot afford private treatment via insurance or have long term chronic conditions.

Well most countries do have a two tier health care service, after all.

Why should people in the highest income and tax bracket get their health care entirely free of charge?

I find it entirely reasonable that a free health service should provide health care for those (probably most of the population) who cannot possibly afford to pay for it themselves.

Those who can, should do so, in whole or in part in the same way as I feel their children should be in private schools, not in government funded ones.

I have to pay for chiropody too, even though I can't do it myself and bad neuropathy means I'm at risk of developing infections.

It has been denied

AussieGran59

We have to pay ridiculously high car park fees at our hospitals, public or private. They are so high that it’s often cheaper to get a taxi there and back. Is it the same in the UK?

A friend often helps me with a lift to see my hospital consultant some ?20 miles away for any check -up. When she was away I asked what transport was available. I ended up taking a taxi which cost me over £100 for the return journey ( including waiting time)
I demurred at the cost for the next appointment ( it wasn't my choice that no-one had chosen to use the surrounding fields here to build a hospital which might have answered our requirements)
A cheery girl rang back to say that by walking 2 miles along an unlit, winding country 'road'/...... no path and used by heavy vehicles I might be able to access 2 further buses to get me to the said hospital. As I am in my 80s and carer for my90 yo husband, it seemed quite a big ask particularly as I have a serious eye complaint and have lost the vision in 1 eye. To negotiate a 2 mile stretch of unlit road with dilated pupils would be very difficult and dangerous.
My husband's condition can lead to a sudden development of sepsis. I dare not leave him alone for several hours Our nearest child is, if lucky with the traffic, a 2.5 hour drive away.
My solution is to avoid doctors but I'm not too sure if we are benefiting from much of a service
ps He was previously both a GP and subsequently a hospital doctor. In the first situation, I was required, as mother of a baby and 2 other children under 5 to man the telephone overnight and despatch husband as and when required

we already have a 2 tier NHS, I used to get free chiropody for my twisted feet, now I have to pay, paracetamol used to be free if you needed it, no longer.

It is possible to get chiropody on the NHS but only if you have chronic health conditions - and depending on where you live. The post-code lottery again.

My partner has three chronic health conditions - one of them, diabetes type 2, which means he's at-risk, and spinal stenosis, advanced to the stage where he can't even cut his own nails. I can't do it for him either because he has an advanced fungal disease, and his nails cannot be cut with ordinary nail scissors. But, we live in the 'wrong' area - so have to pay.

His chiropodist informed him during a conversation that even people who are blind will not automatically be eligible for free treatment, regardless of where they live.

Other procedures are being 'rationed', by cutting down on patient's eligibility.

However, if you need paracetamol on a daily basis, you should be able to get it on the NHS - partly because you cannot buy OTC the quantity you probably need, unless you make several trips to various outlets to buy a packet from each which you would have to do constantly and continuously. Which is both impractical, and costly if you don't have a car... impossible if you are house-bound.

Used to be the case that if you were on benefits then you had to tell the relevant dept if you had a period in hospital and they would reduce your payments presumably because you weren't shelling out for food etc. Don't know if that's still the case.
Whenever my husband has been in hospital I took his food in every day, he only ate the hospital breakfast, can't go too wrong with toast.

we are already having to pay for dentists and some people can not find an nhs dentist where they live, as the dentists say they cannot do the necessary work for the amount they are allowed. Also one of my gripes is that now it is assumed that the majority of people have phones and comuters when they do not all have them. Here you need to ring at 8am or go online to get an appointent within the next couple of days. Tough if you havent got either,you would have to go yourself or get someone to go in person for you to organise an appointment. This is making a 2 tier version of nhs .

If it wasn’t for the NHS being willing to spend a LOT of money on me, I would have died in 2007. When I needed them they were there.

Last week I got a go appointment on the same day I phoned up. I was really unwell and my gp sent me to hospital. Although he advised that it would be quicker to make our own way there than wait for an ambulance.

Once there, I was seen quickly as it was suspected that I had a blood clot (I have history), blood tests, chest x-ray, mri, all happened quickly. The staff, though rushed off their feet, were kind and helpful.

Luckily for me, it turned out to be pneumonia not a blood clot. I was admitted to hospital. Spent the night in an assessment unit before being moved to a ward. Where I had to wait for a bed. I sat in a chair from 2 pm until 8.30pm, before I finally got one.

The food was nice enough. I wouldn’t complain about it.

Once again the NHS was there when I needed it.

The thing that sticks in my mind is a care assistant who came on the ward while I was watching the budget or statement. Whatever the the chancellor was calling it. She said that staff didn’t do the job for the money but they still had to eat.

The NHS is a precious resource that belongs to us all. We need to demand that the government protect it and finance it properly. As long as the government think that the majority of people don’t really care and are critical of it, they will continue to run it into the ground. Underfunding. Privatisation by stealth. We have to stand up to be counted n this. Or just maybe the next time you need it, it won’t be there. Your treatment will depend on how well you can afford to pay.

I have seen an awful lot of waste, when my dad died they would not accept any of the equipment back. Things like bed rails, walking frame, raised loo seat etc because they “don’t have the sterilisation facilities”. Surely if they did, it would be cheaper than buying new. They also don’t accept unused dressings, unopened medication etc even though most of these are individually wrapped, and these are just a few things that we know about. It does make you wonder about other things.

I disagree, we have paid into the health service for many many years so should not have to pay for hospital visits/food/admissions. If people want to they can opt to go privately. Their choice but the rest of us who exist on a state pension should not have to pay for services that we have already paid into. Yes I know the NHS is in trouble but it is this damn government that has caused this. Get rid of them and let someone who can help do the job.

I imagine the wealthy already do pay - and for emergency care there IS only NHS. Are we going to bill rich people for having Accidents and Emergencies?

The gov't say they are spending more on the NHS than ever before and yes, they are, the budget has traditionally gone up 5% or so each year but because they insist on using private companies to commission services it costs more cos they have shareholders who expect a payout, like Serco for example, the extra does not go on frontline services.
I can see you get referred to a website so you can see your place on the NHS waiting list and your private options and how quickly you can be seen next to it.

we already have a 2 tier NHS, I used to get free chiropody for my twisted feet, now I have to pay, paracetamol used to be free if you needed it, no longer.

It is the thin end of the wedge, as you put it, and woe betide those who have nothing, cos they will get the worse deal

Sharp intake of breath .........

How long before SNP propose charging anyone identifying as English for using the NHS in Scotland?

I am the odd one out amongst famiky and friends and they live in Scotland from Borders to Highlands and they all have private health insurance. If I wasn't so old I would too. The system is caving in. Hospice care for late DH was good but oh my the place was dismal. Badly needing upgraded or closed. Eqiop.ent euther not working or breaking down. My DH described it as looking like a prison. DD who died 3 years ago in a Hospice was given excellent care in a modern and beautiful atmosphere, run by Charity organisation. I have been waiting 7 months for physio, no hope really. Spent £600 on physio a year ago for an injury GP treated over phone with two painkillers. Useless. After all the cost physio declared she couldn't fix problem, felt it should have been surgery at time of injury. The NHS as we know it is doomed I feel NS did comment on the wealthy contributing being raised at a meeting. Heads of NHS trusts etc were doing a bit of blue sky thinking apparently.

All wealthy people I know already have private insurance/ healthcare. Shorter waiting lists, if any, good care ... etc.

Growstuff I thought you had made a comment about consultants working part time in the NHS so they could do private work. Apologies if it was not you.

I am of the opinion that if the will and commitment were there, the NHS could ultimately function to a level that would benefit all. That is the starting point.

I don't believe this current government have either (though some MPs are more enthusiastic than others). For various reasons; ideology, vested interests and 'short-termism' quick-fix solutions which make good sound-bites but don't address the root causes... the sticking-plaster solutions.

I’m having my cataract done in private facility at cost to NHS….I chose this as the hospital who did my first cataract op , pre-Covid , messed it up and I had to have a repair op! 4 years in and still have trouble closing my eye!